While looking through the net I happened to have noticed a full iso download for the unreleased sequel to Psygnosis's 1994 classic game Hired Guns. It uses the unreal engine and is the final build before it got cancelled, apparently because Psygnosis could not find a publisher for it. It was leaked by a graphics artist about a month ago.

http://fromwithin.com/files/HiredGunsSequel.iso

Here is a picture of the game in action (hope the upload worked). It works on xp, at least on my computer. This pre-release build is from the year 2000. If the game does not work on your pc, here are some tips someone wrote to help you:

Part 1 for people who don't want to go into file modifications :

I'm not sure if this has an impact on the actual resolution but :
Go to the options control panel, gameplay, advanced options (bottom). You then go in windowed mode.
You can move the window to see the whole advanced options available if you want to check them.
Anyway, in the game window you now have a top menu bar : file, window and help. In the windows drop-down menu you have various modes to select.

Also for people configuring the keys, be patient, it takes a few seconds after hitting Enter for the game to allow you to take the new input.


Part 2 for people who are ready to make file modifications (and already have done with UT99 or 2004, since as far as I remember, HG3D is based on a UT engine) (needs a lot of further testing and feedback is welcome):

I think everything is in hg.ini (system folder).
You can change your input keys easily there.

As for the resolution :
[WinDrv.WindowsClient]
I changed the original settings 640*480 to :
ViewportX=1280
ViewportY=800 (widescreen laptop explains the unsual resolution)
I don't feel an actual change on graphics but the game now plays at a decent rate (before I found it played too quickly, you could be shot to death before seeing where the enemy was)

I switched ScreenFlashes to False because I think it changes the flickering that sometimes happens in the select screen at the beginning.

Looks good ....Hope there won't be too much bugs in the game...

(Edit: 100th posts lol)

Here are some screenshots:

Afew more...











The original hired guns is still in PCGamer's top 100 games of all time, so hopefully this is just as good.

Screens look cool. A little like System Shock 2. Just downloading the iso

Here is an official description of the game:

"Hired Guns is a futuristic, first-person 3D shooter set in a slick, neon-washed cyberpunk world. It combines all-out first-person shooter action with intense strategic gameplay. The game's quad-screen view enables players to simultaneously command and view a four-character squad of ruthless mercenaries. Team play is key as each player faces a relentless onslaught of action while leading three other mercs to victory. Hired Guns features the acclaimed Unreal engine and supports cooperative multiplayer play via a LAN."

Here is the 1999 game preview on IGN, if anyone is interested:
http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/130/130379p1.html

It says "Hired Guns is a complex game of tactics and teammates, more along the lines of X-COM Alliance or System Shock 2 than a Quake or Unreal"

Check out http://www.3dactionplanet.com/features/ ... hiredguns/
for a great preview when the game was still in development.

The game readme says: "This is a pre-production test version of Hired
Guns. This version includes all levels from the full game."

Fifi, do you know what happened to "gamebeta.wiki.com". It seems to be offline at the moment. Any chance it will come back to life any time soon?

I think this game has some graphics problems on my laptop.
Im going to the Camping on menu. I think now i should select something but no text displays...


EDIT: @tom101: i dont know it wasn't updated since october... I think we should start it again

A few tips I found on the web about how to run it:

1) after install, go to the /System/ dir and run hg.exe to get it to run, the HGStart.exe crash n burned on xp here - Jurai

2) If it doesnt seem to run the video setup (atleast it didnt for me), you can change the video driver in the ini, though d3d didnt render any menu overlays for me in fs (software did) - Juari

Check my other tips at the top of the page. People definitely got this to work. Maybe its more to do with the original unreal engine not working properly great on xp? I'll look into it if its still failing...

Edit: I think we should definitely revive gamebeta.wiki since its down at the moment, and it looked quite good. Perhaps '1337 Beta Collector' can help?

@tom101:
1. I changed to OpenGL - it worked.


2. Most part of GameBeta was done by ___.

This is awesome news. Also as a side note, Play the Amiga Version of this if you have only played the PC version, its a lot better!

it will be back and should be better. i still have all the pictures (and betas) on my computer. but unfortunatly i don't have all the text. I'll try to rescue what i can

I think google has cached the website. But its working so sloooow for me xD

Psygnosis was the publisher. The story is actually that Psygnosis decided to stop making PC games in April 2000. The developers (VR-1 at that time, initially Devil's Thumb Entertainment) wanted to finish the game nevertheless, but since Psygnosis refused to part with the rights on the game, it wasn't possible. They gave up sometime in 2001... Really a shame, as the game wasn't that bad.

That leaked version is the last one compiled; however, it's by no means final. All single-player maps are there, but the missions aren't connected to each other. That's why you can select whatever mission you want to play from the outset.

Does anyone still have the ISO? I can't download it from the original link, and I'm looking like a madmen for this
All help appreciated